Lane Mills (Westleigh New Mill) in 1836. Victoria Mills off Kirkhall Lane were built by James and John Hayes between 1856 and 1887 and Firs Mills were built by Tunnicliffe and Hampson. Governance Westleigh was a township in the ancient ecclesiastical parish of Leigh in the hundred of West Derby in Lancashire. Under the terms of the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 Westleigh formed part of the Leigh Poor Law Union, which was established on 26 January 1837 and responsible for an area covering the whole of the ancient parish of Leigh and part of Winwick. There were workhouses in Pennington, Culcheth, Tyldesley, and Lowton, but they were replaced by Leigh Union workhouse at Atherleigh in the 1850s. The Local Government Act of 1858, and the Public Works (Manufacturing Districts) Act, 1863, were adopted by the township in 1863. In 1875, the district was dissolved and merged into the Leigh Local Board, which became an urban district council under the Local Government Act, 1894 and incorporated in the Municipal Borough of Leigh. The population in 1901 was 16,177. Geography Westleigh occupies the north west portion of Leigh, covering 1,882½ statute acres. The ground rises in undulations from 75 feet above sea level in the south to 150 feet in the north and northwest. The Westleigh Brook crosses the township from north to south and joins with the Hey or Pennington Brook, flowing from the west. The geological formation consists of coal measures in the north, under the Permian rocks which outcrop from Westleigh village to Westleigh Heath and Strange Common. To the south east the formation consists of the pebble beds of the new red sandstone series. There are several small flashes, small lakes created in the 20th century by coal mining subsidence and flooding. Transport The Wigan and Leigh branch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal crosses the south of the township from west to east, and the road from Hindley to Atherton (A577) crosses to the north of Westleigh with a branch road to Leigh running south. The Bolton and Leigh Railway line reached Westleigh in March 1830 and was extended across the Leeds and Liverpool Canal to Kenyon Junction on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Leigh Station on the Bolton and Leigh Railway at Westleigh was opened to passengers in June 1831. The line of the railway is now the route of the A579 road. The Manchester–Southport